The present invention relates to collapsible baby walkers, and more particularly to a collapsible baby walker-jumper having an eccentrically mounted pivotable wheel assembly and an actuator for establishing a partially collapsed "safety" position during folding of the walker-jumper and selectively controlling movement of a collapsible frame from the partially collapsed safety position to a fully collapsed "storage" position.
One object of the present invention is to provide a system on a collapsible baby walker or the like for guarding against accidental or inadvertent folding of the walker to a fully collapsed storage position. Typically, a baby walker includes a seat means that is folded into an opening in a base means by means of a collapsible frame assembly. Desirably, such a system would be configured to permit some movement of the seat means relative to the base means to allow for varying the height of the seat means between two or more "use" positions of different elevation, yet prevent complete collapse of the seat means into the base means unless such movement was contemplated.
Another object of the present invention is to Provide a secondary control system for automatically establishing a partially collapsed safety position of the seat means relative to the base means intermediate the use and storage positions of the seat means during normal collapsing movement of the baby walker. Desirably, such a secondary control system is operable independent of a primary control system for controlling the elevation of the seat means relative to the base means to establish the various predetermined use positions of the seat means. Advantageously, such independent operation aids in preventing accidental manipulation of the primary control system which might otherwise cause the seat means to fall to its fully collapsed position within the base means.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide at least two eccentrically mounted pivotable rolling units for lowering the base from a normal rolling position above an underlying surface to a braking position in frictional engagement with the underlying surface upon movement of one of the rolling units over an edge of the underlying surface. Edge detection of a pivotable rolling unit is advantageously enhanced by eccentrically mounting certain of the pivotable rolling units to position each wheel of those rolling units in close proximity to the periphery of the base. Further, positioning the eccentric pivot axis underneath the approximate center of mass of a loaded seat aids in improving the overall stability of the baby walker when exposed to tip-inducing forces.
According to the present invention, a baby walker is provided comprising a base, seat means for carrying a child, and frame means for operably interconnecting the base and the seat means to permit guided collapsing movement of the seat means relative to the base from an elevated use position to a fully collapsed storage position. The baby walker further includes first control means for blocking relative movement of the seat means and the frame means to elevate the seat means to the elevated use position above the base and second control means for blocking relative movement of the frame means and the base to establish a partially collapsed position intermediate the use and storage positions to aid in preventing inadvertent movement of the seat means to its fully collapsed storage position.
In preferred embodiments, the second control means is coupled to the base and the second control means includes blocking means for intercepting a predetermined portion of the frame means during collapsing movement thereof, spring means for yieldably biasing the blocking means to a frame means-intercepting position, and actuation means for retracting the blocking means against the spring means to permit relative movement of the frame means and the base from the partially collapsed position to the fully collapsed storage position.
Preferably, a baby walker in accordance with the present invention includes rolling means for rollably supporting the base on an underlying surface. The rolling means includes at least three rolling units arranged in spaced relation about a peripheral portion of the base. Advantageously, eccentric means is provided for pivotally coupling each of a pair of the rolling units to the base for pivotable movement of each said rolling unit relative to the base about an eccentric horizontal pivot axis offset relative to the longitudinal midpoint portion of each said rolling unit.